Alcester, SD

Alcester grew from a railroad plan in northern Union County. The Western Town Lot Company laid out the town in 1879, buying 135 acres and dividing it into lots as the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad approached. A depot came first, followed by a lumber company, and the community took the name of Colonel Alcester of the British army after earlier names including Linia and Irene.

The town sits about midway between Sioux Falls and Sioux City, surrounded by farmland and connected to both metro areas by the regional road network. Agriculture still shapes the local calendar, while Dakota Street and the center of town hold a practical mix of services: a newspaper, bank, grocery, restaurants, health care, repair and trade businesses, and the grain elevator. Alcester-Hudson schools serve students from both communities, with the shared district carrying a long local tradition. Alcester is a railroad-founded farming city whose daily life still gathers around the depot-era grid, school, stores, and wide fields beyond town.